The ceiling - Final Four. The Floor winning the first round of the tournament. Most likely getting to the sweet 16.
We just beat 2 really solid teams without most likely our 2nd best player for the entirety of 1 game and the majority of another. Chit Chat can create her own shot - facilitate get in the lane - provide 3 point shooting (probably our 2nd best 3 point shooter right now). She would have been a major difference maker in that final 8 minutes when they began to double the post. My biggest worry was we would fall apart against a team with strong defensive effort without Chit Chat. Honestly Stremlow played incredibly well filling in for her.
We have 6 solid players within our system - Heiden, Chit Chat, Stuelke, McCabe, Stremlow and Kylie.
The ceiling depends on 3 bench players and 1 starter-
1. Hays - against elite or very good C's Hays is still a work in progress. No different than Heiden last year. Her limitations show up and just lack of experience. We have seen she can score and has moves against lower competition. That is good. It shows she has the skills to continue to develop into an a very good or elite C at this level. She just needs to continue to work at it.
2. Rodriguez - Watching her is like being on a roller coaster. Here is my take - outside of maybe Heiden she has a higher ceiling than anyone else on the court. Her BB IQ however is poor. She has an outside shot, she has excellent handles, and she can dribble drive at will. She can become a ball hog, she doesn't give consistent effort on defense and rebounding (but has the ability) and gets herself into trouble by being out of control. All correctable things. Assuming you can keep her motivated, she will be a key cog potentially by the end of the year and most certainly in the next 2.
3. Deal - You could put Mallegni or Houston - but they are a tad repetitive and neutralize each other. We have enough depth at the post positions. We could utilize more depth at the guard position and beyond McCabe - in my limited viewing she has the best stroke from 3. She does not have the quickness currently. The defense has improved some since the initial game and she does not appear to be as out of control as she was the initial games. She has figured out something that works with driving to the lane. Personally I would scrap the euro step for now and re-implement and just drive to the lane hard. Try to get a foul and go with it. She is willing to create her shot and has more potential at finishing than Kylie or McCabe. She can still be an extremely good offensive threat and passer. The defense has to be passable.
Starter - McCabe - McCabe has been our 3rd best player this season in my opinion. the defense - good shooting (not great for her), decent handles, clutch plays and willing to drive more. I really want McCabe to become more aggressive on the offensive end. The last 2 games I have see 3 drives to the lane. She needs to continue to do this. I still want her to work on a mid range game and some 1 on 1 game of some sort. If she can become a poor mans Lucy Olsen - this teams ceiling jumps quite a bit. There have been very few mistakes from her this year and she is showing more leadership and confidence.
You need 1 of McCabe or Deal to really blossom as an offensive threat to balance this team to reach its potential in my opinion. The ceiling is still incredibly high. You do need Chit Chat to get healthy and remain healthy but that goes without saying.
